I received this email from John McCain - I will post my response below: Dear Vera, Over the last few months, I have been deeply concerned by the humanitarian crisis that has unfolded on our southern border in which thousands of migrants - including tens of thousands of unaccompanied children from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala - have surged to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas to try and enter our country illegally. On June 20th, I visited the U.S. Customs and Border Processing Center in Nogales, where thousands of these children were transferred from Texas, to examine the conditions in which these children are being kept, gather more information from officials on the ground, and to thank the men and women of the Border Patrol for their fine work. While Border Patrol officials have indicated they will no longer be sending unaccompanied minors from Texas to Nogales for processing, illegal immigration remains a critical issue for Arizona and the nation. We must be vigilant in making sure our border is secure, and take action to ensure that this unacceptable flow from Central America does not happen again. The truth is, statements by President Obama and his Administration in recent years have been received and distorted in Central America and interpreted to indicate that if children make it across our southern border, they can stay in America. This isnt true, and we must do everything in our power to send a clear message that if they send their children north, they wont be able stay, and theyll be quickly returned home. I strongly believe that this crisis wont end until the parents whove paid thousands of dollars to smuggle their children north see planeloads of them landing back home - their money wasted. Thats why Senator Flake and I have introduced legislation to speed the repatriation of these children to their home countries, reduce the long backlog in our immigration courts, increase criminal penalties on human smugglers, and condition foreign aid to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador on their efforts to secure their borders and halt this crisis. On July 17th, Senator Flake and I, along with several of our colleagues, introduced the Children Returning on an Expedited and Safe Timeline (CREST Act) to address this crisis and ensure these migrants are treated humanely, but also returned home as quickly as possible. Most importantly, the CREST Act would modify the 2008 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), a well-intentioned law aimed at protecting trafficking victims from Central America, but which had the unintended consequence of grinding the repatriation of almost all migrant children nearly to a halt. The CREST Act would amend this 2008 law to place treatment of migrants from Central American countries on par with those from Mexico and Canada, which will result in a far more efficient and expedited repatriation process. Amending that 2008 law should be our first priority in making sure that happens. In order to process these cases more quickly and reduce the 1-2 year backlog in our immigration courts, the CREST Act would authorize the temporary hiring of 100 additional immigration judges and funding for asylum officers and immigration attorneys. The bottom-line is that under the CREST Act, we would no longer be reuniting children with their parents in the United States if those parents are here illegally. In addition, the CREST Act would allow for processing of refugee applications at diplomatic facilities in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras - encouraging those with legitimate claims for asylum to go to our embassy in their home country rather than trying the long and dangerous trip north to try and cross our border illegally. The legislation would increase penalties for human smugglers, including a prison sentence of up to 20 years for those that attempt to smuggle unaccompanied minors. The CREST Act would also condition foreign aid on countries efforts to secure their borders. It would require the President to certify that Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador are doing everything they can to prevent the illegal migration of unaccompanied minors or risk losing foreign aid assistance. Finally, Senator Flake and I have continued to urge the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services to provide greater access to their holding facilities to the news media and Members of Congress - to ensure openness and transparency in how these facilities are operating. There have been many false rumors of poor treatment spread by those interested in maligning the Border Patrol, whose officers have gone above and beyond to care for these children and keep them safe. On June 18th, five days after our initial request, the Obama Administration provided media access to the Nogales Processing Center for the first time since the crisis began, and on July 18th, the Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection pledged to work with Congress to provide better access. While addressing this humanitarian crisis is vitally important, as always, securing our border remains my top priority. As you know, the Senate immigration bill passed last year is the only legislation passed by either the House or Senate that would fund $46 billion in border security resources - and do so before anyone can move forward on the path to citizenship - and even double the size of the Border Patrol. Critically, the legislation would create an orderly employment visa system to allow immigrants to travel to the United States for work and return home - putting an end to much of the economic-based illegal immigration happening today and allowing border patrol to focus on the drug cartels and other bad actors attempting to cross our borders. Please feel free to distribute this letter to anyone you know who is interested in these vital issues. Thank you for your continuing support. Sincerely, John McCain
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 20:15:07 +0000
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